Cutout mechanism for endorsing machines



Nov. 9, 1954 E. PERssON CUTOUT MECHANISM FOR ENDORSING MACHINES 2sheds-sheet 1 Filed April 7, 1950 FIGLI INVENTOR. my

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 9, 1954 E. PERssON 2,693,754

cuTouT MECHANISM FOR ENDoRsING MACHINES Filed April 7, 1950 2Sheets-Sheet 2 F|G.3 72 l i f5 i l l l f m v /3 INVENTOR. v1/114i @ma-ruBY f i Patented Nov. 9, 19.54

CUTOUT MECHANISM FOR NDORSING MACHINES Ernest Persson, New York, N. Y.,assignor to The International Postal Supply Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application April 7, 1950, Serial No. 154,674

2 Claims. (Cl. 101-235) This invention relates to check endorsingmachines and the like and has for its object the provision of a novelcut-out arrangement by which a check endorsing die may be made operativeor inoperative at will.

Many check endorsing machines are provided with a plurality ofindependent endorsing dies each with its own trip lever. The respectivedies are usually arranged to print different matter on the checks.Sometimes it is desirable to have the matter from but one die printed ona check and the present invention provides a simple arrangement by whichthe trip mechanism of any die may be disabled at will to prevent theoperation of the same.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an arrangement foradjusting the trip mechanism of a check endorsing machine to compensatefor wear of the feed rollers.

Still another object of the invention is the provision f a novelprinting die structure in which a plurality of dies are removablymounted on a single hub, provision being made to rotate the structurefor supporting the dies with respect to a stop arm so that therespective dies may be slid past the stop arm when installing orremoving the same. With this arrangement, separate dies may be mountedside by side on a hub, the arrangement permitting the greater part ofthe surface of the structure to be available for printing. In the novelstructure disclosed, a stop arm is lixed to a driven shaft or sleevewhich operates intermittently under control of a start-stop mechanism. Ahub mounted on the sleeve carries a pair of printing dies side by sidein spaced relation. The hub and die structureis such that the dies maybe slipped on or off dove tailed supports in an axial direction. Withthe ordinary construction,

the xed stop arm would block removal of one of the dies. ln the presentinvention, however, the hub is normally free to turn on the drivensleeve with respect to the stop arm for an angular distance limited by adepressible pin in the movable hub which is positioned normally betweena pair of short angularly spaced arms xed with respect to the stop arm.The pin may be depressed to pass under either of the spaced arms topermit further rotation of the hub with respect to the stop arm and withthis arrangement the respective dies may be moved on their supports pastthe stop arm.

This loose coupled mechanism has thev further advantage in that duringoperation, the -entire weight of the hub and stop arm structure is notstopped on the initial impact of the stop arm and the arrestingstructure therefor, since after the stop arm has come to rest, the hubturns an appreciable angular distance before the pin carried by the hubengages one of the short arms fixed with respect to the stop arm whichlessens the initial shock of the engagement of the stop arm with itsarresting apparatus. When the stop arm is released, the starting load onthe driving clutch is less and the driven sleeve picks up more quicklysince the driven sleeve travels an appreciable distance before pickingup the load of the hub.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, of which Fig. l is a plan View of a check endorsing machine inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken through 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a view partly in section taken through 3--3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a view partly in section taken through 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings: An endorsing die and a controllingmechanism shown in the various gures of the drawings is supported in adetachable bracket arrangement of a known type which includes ahorizontal arm 10, Fig. 1, slotted at 11 in one end and provided with apair of round openings, one of which is shown in the drawings, which tover upright supporting rods 12 to which they are clamped by a suitablethumb screw, not shown.

A block 13 is fastened to one side of arm 10. About one half of thisblock projects beyond the upper surface of the arm to give access to anadjusting means mounted in the block which will be referred to furtheron.

At the end of arm a generally hat member 15 is fastened by a screw 16,Fig. 3, which serves as one side of a guideway through which checks orother objects to be endorsed are fed by suitable feed rollers.lmmedilately to the rear of arm 10, the lower portion of guide member 15is cut away to provide clearance for a printing die, to be described,while the opposite end of guide member 15 is formed with a dependingoffset bifurcated portion having parallel spaced horizontal arms 18 and19 between which a trip release tongue 20 projects, the arms 18 and 19serving as a guard therefor.

The trip tongue 20, which is one arm of a two-armed lever, controls astart-stop printing die to be described which is driven through asuitable clutch,` such as a friction clutch, not shown. The printing diestructure is provided with a stop arm which is arrested each revolutionand then released when a check or other object fed through the guidewayrocks the trip tongue 20.

Referring to Fig. 2, shaft is formed with a spline 26 by which it may bedetachably connected to the driven member of a suitable friction clutch,not shown.l A sleeve 27 is secured to shaft 25 by any suitable means. Agear 28 for driving a counter is detachably secured to sleeve 27.Referring to Fig. 4, a die supporting hub 29 referred to hereingenerally as a printing roller is free to turn on sleeve 27. A pair oflongitudinally flattened surfaces 30 and 31, the edges of which meetforming a longitudinal. spline 32 are provided respectivelywith largeraised surfaces 33 and 34 formed with under cut or dovetailed verticaledges 35 and 36. A pair of printing dies 23 and 24 undercut at the basewith complementary dove tail recesses iit over the raised surfaces 33and 34. As already described, the printing roller structure is normallyfree to turn on sleeve 27 for a limited angular distance by anarrangement now to be described.

Overlying the printing roller 29 is a plate 40 formed with two angularlyspaced opposed arms 41 and 42. This plate is fixed to the sleeve 27. Adepressible pin 43 extends upwardly from printing roller or die hub 29be* tween arms 41 and 42 and forms the driving connection between theprinting roller and sleeve 27. A spring actuated stop pawl 44 pivoted ona stud 45 fastened in bracket arm 10 by screw 46 engages the rib 32 onthe print roller to prevent rebound of the print roller on theengagement of pin 43 with arm 41 when shaft 25 is stopped.

A stop arm 47, Fig. l, carrying a roller 48, Fig. 3, pivoted in the endthereof is secured to sleeve 27 overlying plate 40. The stop arm roller4S cooperates with a roller 49 mounted near the end of a stop lever 50.pivoted iny spaced relation on stud 45 together with the alreadymentioned stop pawl 44. The construction is such that the centers ofrollers 48 and 49 and stud 45 when in a position of rest are disposed ina straight line. With this arrangement a very light impact on the arm oflever 50 will disturb the alignment of the parts, releasing roller 48and the shaft 25. roller 49 out of its path and shaft 25 will be free toturn for one revolution when it will be stopped again by roller 49.

A fibre stop pin for lever 50 having a attened engaging surface isfastened in an opening in bracket arm 10 by screw 56. Lever 50 is heldagainst stop pin 55 by a spring 57 having one end connected by a link 58to the lever and the other fastened to the turned over end of a springpost 59 adjustably secured in an opening in bracket 10 by screw 60.

Once released. roller 48 will cam Lever 50 is pivoted at 63 to a link 64which in turn is pivoted on pin 62 to arm 65 of trip tongue lever 20.The latter is fulcrumed in between members 66 and 67 of a bifurcatedlever arm on a pin 61 which extends therethrough, the bifurcated armbeing formed integrally with one end portion of a sleeve fulcrum section68 which has a second lever arm 69 extending from near its opposite end.This lever arrangement is pivoted to the under side of bracket block 13by a stud 70 which is fastened to the block by a screw 71, Fig. 1. Aspring 72 having one end fastened to a link 73 to lever arm 69 and theother end to the turned over end of an adjustable spring post 74adjustably fastened in a hole in block 13 by screw 75 tends to turnlever 66-67-69 in a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 1.

A novel cut-out arrangement and adjustment for wear on the usualcheck-feeding rollers indicated by the dot and dash arcs 21 and 22cooperates with the lever arm 69. The cut-out arrangement is a small atlever 80 frictionally mounted in a vertical slot cut in one face ofblock 13. The lower end 81 of lever 80 projects below a cut away portionof block 13, Fig. 2, into the path of lever arm 69 and serves as a backstop therefor. Lever 80 is mounted on a pivot 83 held by block 13. Abovepivot. 83 an adjusting screw 84 provided with a lock nut 85 engages oneedge of lever 80 to regulate the position of rest thereof and alsothereby the normal position of rest of lever arm 69.

The cut-out arrangement operates as follows: The levers and associatedlinkages per se for tilting the lever 50 and cyclically releasing theprinting die is a known mechanism which is designed so that irrespectiveof the length of a check or other object fed through the machine therotation of the die assembly will be invariably arrested after onerevolution. A check fed through the device is engaged by suitable knownrubber rollers indicated by the dash and dot arcs 21 and 22 and broughtup against the end portion of trip tongue 20 initially rocking the samea short angular distance on pivot 61 which movement is communicated bylink 64 to lever 50 which is rocked slightly on its pivot pin 45 in acounterclockwise direction as shown in Fig. 1 upsetting the alignedarrangement of the centers of stop arm roller 48 and roller 49 withpivot 45 thus releasing the printing roller which is constantly urged toturn by its friction drive. Roller 48 carried by the stop arm, camsroller 49 out of its path. As the check progresses between rollers 21and 22, it forces lever 66-68-69 to turn on its pivot 70 in acounterclockwise direction, the check overriding the end of the triptongue lever. This moves lever arm 69 away from its stop 81 which is thelower end of cut-out lever 80. In the meantime, spring 57 has turnedlever 50 so that roller 49 carried thereby is again positioned in thepath of roller 48 mounted on stop arm 47 to arrest the same at the endof the revolution of the printing die.

With the arrangement just described, an initial downward pressureexerted on the end of the trip tongue 20 as shown in Fig. l does noteffect a turning movement of lever 50 but merely causes lever 66-68-69to turn on its pivot in a counterclockwise direction. When it is desiredto cut out a printing die, cut-out lever Si) is turned and the lower endthereof engages lever arm 69 turning this lever which movement iseffective to withdraw the trip tongue 20 from the path of the checks toa position of rest between the arms 18 and 19 of the guide 15. Reversingthe position of lever 80 returns the device instantly to operativecondition without tripping the same.

One of the feed rollers, usually roller 21, is customarily mounted on amovable spring pressed spindle which keeps the rollers 21 and 22 pressedagainst each other. As the rollers wear, and their diameters becomereduced, their position of contact with respect to the end of triptongue 20 changes, the contact point gradually moving toward the guidingmember approaching fulcrum 61, decreasing the effective length of thelever arm and reducing the sensitivity of the arm 65 of the trip tonguelever Z0. Screw 84 is provided which may be adjusted to tilt lever 80slightly so that the position of rest of lever arm 69 is changed so thatit is rotated slightly in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in Fig.1 to withdraw the trip tongue sufciently to correct for the changedposition of engagement of feed rollers 21 and 22.

In Figs. 1 and 4 the die assembly and release mechanism are shown intheir position of rest. When the print roller is released by theoperation of trip tongue 20, shaft 25 and sleeve 27 turn until arm 40engages pin 43 and the hub assembly is turned thereby. When roller 48 onvthe stop arm engages roller 49 the rotation of shaft 25 and sleeve 27is arrested, but the momentum carries the hub assembly further on untilthe movement thereof is stopped by pin 43 engaging arm 41. At thisposition of the hub, pawl 44 engages spline 32 preventing rebound of thehub.

What is claimed is:

1. In an intermittently operable printing mechanism suitable forprinting on cheeks or the like, a bracket, a guideway adjacent thebracket, means including a pair of cooperating feed rollers for feedingchecks along the guideway, a trip tongue lever having a pair of arms, aportion of the first of the arms extending into the guideway so as to betripped by the leading edges of the respective checks passingtherethrough, a rotary frictionally driven printing die supported by thebracket, a stop arm fixed to the printing die, a spring loaded stoplever having a pair of arms one of which is normally positioned in therotary path of the stop arm to arrest the same and hold the printing dieagainst rotation, a link pivotally connecting the second arm of the triptongue lever with the second arm of the stop lever whereby the triptongue lever on being tripped disengages the stop lever arm from thestop arm permitting the printing die to turn, a fulcrum lever pivotallymounted on the bracket having a pair of arms one of which is pivoted tothe trip tongue, and means for limiting the movement of the fulcrumlever in one direction comprising a stop screw mounted in the bracket, amember in the rotary path of the second arm of the fulcrum leverdisplaceable by the stop screw, the screw and the member serving toadjust the length of the portion of the trip tongue extending into theguideway to compensate for wearing of said feed rollers.

2. In an intermittently operable printing mechanism suitable forprinting on checks or the like, a bracket, a guideway adjacent thebracket, means including a pair of cooperating feed rollers for feedingchecks ,along the guideway, a trip tongue lever having a pair of arms aportion of the iirst of the arms extending into the guideway so as to betripped by the leading edges of the respective checks passingtherethrough; a rotary frictionally driven printing die supported by thebracket, a stop arm fixed to the pgr/inting die, a spring loaded stoplever having a pair of arms one of which is normally positioned in therotary path of the stop arm to arrest the same and hold the printing dieagainst rotation, a link pivotally connecting the second arm of the triptongue lever with the second arm of the stop lever whereby the triptongue lever on being tripped disengages the stop lever arm from thestop arm permitting the printing die to turn, a fulcium lever pivotallymounted on the bracket having a pair of arms one of which is pivoted tothe trip tongue, means for limiting the movement of the fulcrum leverabout its pivot in one direction comprising a stop screw threaded intothe bracket, the screw serving to adjust the length of the portion ofthe trip tongue extending into the guideway to compensate for wearing ofsaid feed rollers, said limiting means also including a manuallyoperable lever frictionally mounted on the bracket, the lever beingdisposed between the end of the stop screw and the second arm of thefulcrum, the latter lever being effective when turned to rock thefulcrum lever on its pivot and withdraw the trip tongue from theguideway and thus arrest the operation of the printing mechanism.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,905,526 Swanson Apr. 25, 1933 2,104,668 Pearson Jan. 4, 19382,128,156 Moller Aug. 23, 1938 2,141,119 Wheeler Dec. 20, 1938 2,363,554Ryan et al Nov. 28, 1944 2,373,503 Sager Apr. 10, 1945 2,406,040 RyanAug. 20, 1946

